Shoe upper lacing machines



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Filed Apr. 5, 1968, Ser. No. 719,124 Int. Cl. A43d 95/00 US. Cl. 12-585 16 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to improvements in shoe upper lacing machines, such as disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,056,961, granted Oct. 13, 1936, and No. 2,106,320, granted Jan. 25, 1938, both in the name of the present inventor.

The machine of Patent No. 2,106,320 is effective and commercially successful in lacing eyeletted shoe uppers preparatory to lasting, at the present time, but the machine is expensive to manufacture and requires special skills and abilities in its maintenance and repair because it employs a number of parallel eye needles, each operated to reenter repeatedly into a pair of alined eyelets and then into previous loops of lacing cords inserted by the needles, thus to enchain the loops with nonslip knots. Unless precisely manufactured and carefully adjusted the needles and other cooperating devices are subject to frequent contingencies tending to misaline them relatively to the eyelets, with the result that parts of the machine may be bent or damaged or the uppers themselves may be pierced outside the eyelets or otherwise rendered unfit for use.

The machine of Patent No. 2,045,961 has never been commercialized for the reason that it was even more prone to faulty operation than that of Patent No. 2,106,- 320. While the machine of Patent No. 2,056,961 does not require the needles to reenter the eyelets of an upper after once having withdrawn following insertion of initial loops of lacing cord, the machine does depend for an essential of its operation upon taking each cord loop from a needle and holding it open after its retraction with an eXecessive amount of slack at a position where the needle may reenter and be advanced through it without danger of missing or stranding the loop. Holding each loop open with the cord slack for reentry of the needle in this way depends upon previous disengagement of each loop from the needle hook and as a result considerable difficulty is encountered on account of the slack required in the crowded space available in the machine about the point of needle operation, especially because the amount of slack required is not conducive to accurate control of the cord. Thus, both patented machines are more critical in their operations and more sensitive to maladjustments than good manufacturing, operating and servicing economics should warrant.

The primary objects of the invention are to provide a shoe upper lacing machine having none of the defects found in prior machines, as noted above, and otherwise to simplify the construction and mode of operation for shoe upper lacing machines generally without requiring exercise of special skills in manufacture or service and ice to improve the machine of Patent No. 2,056,961 in particular, in a manner to eliminate the necessity for holding open in slack condition each loop of lacing cord for reentry of the needle as basis for its essential operation. In this way, a simplified and improved construction for a lacing machine has not only been accomplished, but because liability for contingencies interfering with proper operation and tendencies for criticalness and sensitivity to maladjustment have been eliminated, it is possible to decrease the over-all size and weight of the present machine substantially from that of any prior machine of the same type.

To the ends noted, the present machine includes instrumentalities to retract initial loops of lacing cord through superposed eyelets of a folded shoe upper and to form knots between the legs of those loops by enchaining successive additional loops in a manner similar to that employed in the machine of Patent No. 2,056,961 without the necessity of taking slack loops from the needles, the instrumentalities including a number of straight reciprocating hook needles arranged to enter and retract in unison from the eyelets, a clamp being provided for securing the upper during operations, together with a set of loopers for the needles and suitable mechanisms for actuating the needles to enable laying legs of each initial loop alternately into the hook of a needle while that needle also holds under proper tension a previous loop, so as to be free from likelihood of entanglement. The actuating mechanisms are arranged to cause each loop of cord to be retained directly on each needle from the time in which it is laid in the hook of that needle until the cord for the succeeding loop is engaged therewith, a knot comprising a nonslipping engagement of enchained loops eventually being reached. In this way the necessity for disengaging each loop from a needle hook and for holding it accurately by the use of an additional hooked instrument in open position for reentry by that needle during a succeeding enchaining stroke, as in the patented machine just referred to, is avoided.

Other features of the invention, as hereinafter described and claimed will readily be understood by those skilled in the art from the following detailed specification taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side perspective view, partly broken away and in section, looking from the right of a shoe upper lacing machine embodying the features of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front perspective view of the machine illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary side view, partly in section, looking from the left of the machine;

FIG. 4 is a detail side sectional view on an enlarged scale, looking from the right of an individual lacing unit and some of its actuating connections in the machine;

FIG. 5 is a detail view in front elevation of a portion of a cord gripper hook and cutter in the machine;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional plan view of the cord gripper hook and cutter, taken along the line VI-VI of FIG. 4, showing the positions of the parts with the gripper advanced just before a cord is gripped and severed at the end of a lacing forming operation;

FIG. 7 is a similar sectional view taken after the cord is severed and the end of the cord remaining in the machine is gripped;

FIG. 8 is a detail plan view on a reduced scale of a shoe upper clamp and parts of an actuating mechanism for a looper fork employed in the machine;

FIG. 9 is a detail view in front elevation and partly in section of a supporting slide for the upper clamp shown in FIG. 8, taken along the line IX-IX of that figure;

FIG. 10 is a sectional view showing a latch for locking one member of the clamp, taken along the line X--X of FIG. 8, showing the clamp in locked position;

FIG. 11 is a partial sectional view in right side elevation of the machine, certain parts having been removed to illustrate the underlying construction;

FIG. 12 is a diagrammatic plan view of successive angular positions assumed by one of a series of hooked lacing needles in the machine, illustrating rotary movement imparted to the needle;

FIG. 13 is a perspective detail view of parts of the machine surrounding one of the lacing needles, illustrating the manner of laying a cord in a needle hook;

FIG. 14 is a similar view, illustrating the needle in an angular position which avoids improper engagement with the lacing cord after having been laid in the needle hook;

FIG. 15 is a detail view in front elevation and on an enlarged scale, partly broken away and contracted in height of portions of two lacing units, showing their spaced relationship and manner of mounting in the machine;

FIG. 16 is a detail plan view of spacing connections for the lacing units;

FIG. 17 is a fragmentary view in side elevation of a shoe upper after having been laced in the machine;

FIG. 18 is a front detail view, partly broken away and in section, of mechanism for actuating measuring fingers to provide essential amounts of cord for each lacing;

FIG. 19 is a detail view in right side elevation, partly broken away and in section, showing looper fork actuating and cord measuring mechanism in the machine;

FIG. 20 is a somewhat enlarged view in front elevation, partly broken away and foreshortened in width, of a portion of the looper actuating mechanism;

FIG. 21 is a view in right side elevation of a portion of the looper actuating mechanism shown in FIG. 20;

FIG. 22 is a further detail view, partly broken away to reduce its width, of other portions of the looper actuating mechanism, shown in section along the line XXII- XXII of FIG. 19;

FIG. 23 is a detail view on a reduced scale of a main cam shaft with its cams and driving train in the machine;

FIG. 24 is an enlarged sectional view in rear elevation 3f akfork portion of a looper for laying cord in a needle FIG. 25 is a detail view in right side elevation, on a reduced scale and partly in section, of a cord controlling take-up and its actuating mechanism;

FIG. 26 is a right side detail view on an enlarged scale of a cord tension release device;

FIG. 27 is a detail front view of the cord tension;

FIG. 28 is a sectional detail view in right side elevation and on a reduced scale of mechanism for reciprocating and rotating the needles;

FIG. 29 is a similar view, partly broken away and in section, of mechanism for actuating the cord gripper and cutter and a mounting for a cord measuring finger;

FIG. 30 is an enlarged detail plan view, partly broken away, of a mechanism for measuring cords from individual supplies to enable successive lacings in an upper to be graded in length along the eyeletted edges of an upper;

FIG. 31 is a sectional view of the cord measuring mechanism as seen from the line X)Q(I-XXXI of FIG. 30;

FIG. 32 is a detail plan view, partly broken away, of a cord measuring bar, illustrating its position when the lacings are to be the same lengths;

FIG. 33 is a detail view in right side elevation of a cord positioning bar and its support member mounted on the frame of the machine;

FIG. 34 is a detail view in front elevation of the cord positioning bar and its support member;

FIG. 35 is a sectional view in right side elevation on a reduced scale of the front portion of the machine, parts being broken away and shown in section to illustrate the operation of the machine on a folded shoe upper whose superposed eyelets are impaled on the needles;

FIG. 36 is a detail view in front elevation of a needle and looper illustrating the initial manner of laying a cord in the book of a needle;

FIG. 37 is a view similar to that of FIG. 35 but showing the formation of the initial loop of cord passing through the pair of superposed eyelets by a needle;

FIG. 38 is a detail view in front elevation, showing a connection to the looper fork employed as an alternative in laying the lacing cord in the book of a needle;

FIG. 39 is a detail view, in right side elevation, similar to that of FIG. 37, but showing the alternative looping operation of FIG. 38 in a more advanced stage;

FIG. 40 is a similar view, showing the second loop of cord being retracted through the initial one;

FIG. 41 is a similar view, showing the manner of progressively tightening a knot being formed after the second cord loop has been drawn through the initial one;

FIG. 42 is a similar view, showing the angular position of the' needle preparatory to the formation of the third cord loop in a lacing;

FIG. 43 is a similar view, illustrating the position of the needle, at which the cord is laid in the needle hook for the third time in a lacing cycle;

FIG. 44 shows the formation of the third loop of cord in a lacing, the needle retracting it through the second loop;

FIG. 45 is a view showing the tightening action of the needle and the cord gripper on the third cord loop;

FIG. 46 shows the alternative operation of the looper in laying the cord in the book of the needle preparatory to the formation of the fourth cord loop;

FIG. 47 is a view showing the needle in its last reciprocation while forming the fourth and final cord loop, a cord gripper hook reaching forwardly to engage the cord between the lacing being formed and the cord supply and releasing the free end of the lacing just formed;

FIG. 48 is a similar view showing the cord gripper hook moved rearwardly to sever the cord between the lacing being formed and the supply and to grip the end of the cord remaining in the machine, the needle having ascended to release the final cord loop from its hook;

FIG. 49 is an enlarged sectional view taken through a pair of laced eyelets in an upper, showing the nature of the lacing;

FIG. 50 is a fragmentary view of a laced upper with the knot in a lacing loosened for a better understanding of the knot formation;

FIG. 51 is a sectional detail view, looking from the front of the machine and showing portions of the clamp for gripping the upper, a pair of latches for locking the clamp in lacing position, and a pair of microswitches for starting the machine in operation when the clamp grips the pp FIG. 52 is a wiring diagram of a starting circuit controlled by the microswitches shown in FIG. 51; and

FIG. 53 is a time chart of the movements imparted to the lace forming the knot tying instrumentalities in the machine by the cams shown in FIG. 23.

The machine disclosed herein is intended to form loops and tie knots in a series of lacings passing through several superimposed pairs of eyelets in a folded shoe upper, so that the upper may be lasted without undue displacement of its sides along the surface of a last when a conforming pull is applied to the upper. Briefly, the upper to be laced is gripped by a set of clamp members in a position determined by a series of reciprocating straight hook needles, each acting in unison with the others to insert an initial loop of lacing cord in each pair of eyelets, to carry the loop across the edges of the upper, to tie a knot between the legs of each initial loop and the bight of that loop, to tighten each knot and finally to sever the completed lacings from sources of cord supply in the machine after the lacing is completed. For con- 

